A Needle in a Haystack ??

An off-shoot solo game ......

Lord Fisher had been abducted after the Colonel and his party had left on their flight (see here ).  Kit Campion had found out about the abduction when he went to the airport .. he informed his contacts in the intelligence service - Sterling and Stirling.

A few days later Kit received a telegram ....

Kit -   

Possible whereabouts of Fisher - location Gigglesrick  - contact Inspector Watkins - 

- Sterling & Stirling

he packed his rucksack (including his trusty revolver). Then he phoned Watkins to let him know when he would arrive; another phone call for a taxi to take him the station- then he was off accompanied by his dog Ruffles....

---  At Gigglesrick ---

He arrived at Gigglesrick on time - Watkins met him at the station. 

They had a brief chat in the station cafe; Watkins said he would take Kit to see the two places where it was thought they may be holding Fisher. Both places were owned by Misox Needle Co Ltd, a subsiduary of the Oriental Trading Company. They left the station and headed into the town ....

The first place was a run down building on the edge of town ....

they crossed the street, and headed for an alleyway ....

coming out into they next street they turned left, at the end of the road they stopped - someways down by the railway line they could see the second place - a factory

They headed to the police station to make a plan of action....

--- The Plan Unfolds ---

While the commuters and shoppers waited for the evening train ...

The local police slowly converged on the run down building at the edge of town...

and a special unit of armed police has took up position to watch the road to the factory ....

Watkins and his assistant Pitkin, accompanied by Kit Campion waited for the evening goods train to pass by before crossing the railway line ...

As the goods train clanked past the Police started their raid on the building at the edge of town ...

The premises were soon secured and two men were arrested ...  a quantity of stolen goods was found ...

--- Into the Factory ---

Kit, Watkins and Pitkin crossed the line once the goods train had gone and worked their way up by the hedge, in the distance they can see an armed guard near the factory loading dock....

They passed through a gap in the hedge and took cover while Pitkin cut a hole in wire fence ...

Once through the fence they hid behind the van and some large crates ....

With men near the large building, they headed for the offices...

Pitkin kept watch outside while Watkins & Kit searched the ground and first floors (no sign of Fisher..)

Hearing a noise down by the gate a couple of men approached, but found nothing; Watkins, Pitkin & Kit had left the offices and made their way round the back to check out the low building next door..

It housed a generator with a small store room; nothing here either ....

They slipped out of the generator house and up onto the loading bay of the main building; Pitkin checked if anyone was coming - a man spotted him and fired his pistol, Pitkin shot back - both men missed their mark.....

They hurried into the main factory building, Pitkin closed the door to the loading bay, while Watkins closed the door on the other side; Kit and his dog Ruffles went to investigate upstairs....

As Watkins closed the door a pistol shot hit the frame, outside armed men were covering the door and a couple more were going round to the loading bay door ....

as the gang members fired through the doors, the armed police rammed through the gate and leapt out of their car ....

Watkins, Pitkin and Kit moved up to the first floor and put a makeshift barricade at the top of the stairs ...

A couple of gang members were on the ground floor and fired pot shots up the stairs at Watkins

As Pitkin glanced up the stairs to the next floor, he spotted another gang member - both men fired and missed ....

Watkins fired his shotgun down the stairs, pouring down heavy fire ...  the two gang member downstairs went down hit and badly wounded ...

Pitkin has been hit in the arm and dropped back to see to his wound, Kit covered the stairs to the ground floor while Watkins started a duel with the man upstairs ...

The gang members outside came of worse from the exchange of fire (two down wounded) and the rest made a run for it over the railway line .... one of the policemen had been hit in the arm but not badly wounded.....

as they secured the area, their commander went inside ...

finding the two wounded gang members, he cuffed them and shouted upstairs to Watkins that they had cleared the ground floor ....

The accurate gun-fire from the man upstairs forced both Watkins and Kit back, one of the armed policemen came upstairs to help them and after a short exchange of fire ....

killed the gang member, Kit and Ruffles followed him upstairs ...

Kit spotted a ladder up to the next floor, he climbed up - in the corner of the room was Fisher bound and gagged ...

Kit soon had him freed and helped him down the ladder ...

They went downstairs and out into the early evening air. Fisher was glad to be outside and thanked his rescuers. As soon as transport could be organised they went back into town - Fisher had something to eat and drink while he made an initial statement for the police.... Kit sent a telegram to Sterling & Stirling...